The national networks--present and future.

The stunning changes in the handling of information brought about by the microcomputer would have been hard for the average person to foresee at the beginning of the 1980s. It is not as hard to visualize the next decade. Electronic records will become a reality. They will be transmitted across the country via high speed digital networks in response to user and patient need. Using networks to transmit files is not a difficult procedure, and health information managers should familiarize themselves with the new "wired" environment if they have not yet done so.